BREAKING, READ: Arizona Supreme Court Upholds Workers Comp For Sheriff's Deputy Survived Shootout, Suffered PTSD

The Arizona Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision today affirming that a Gila County Sheriff's Deputy forced to retire because of PTSD after facing down a man with a shotgun and killing the man.

The ruling reversed the finding of the Adminstrative Law Judge and the ICA, which the justices said focused too much on the deputy's training and not the "exceedingly rare" shootout itself.

The Court's Opinion, authored by Justice Andrew Gould, emphasized the difference:

It is axiomatic that law enforcement officers are trained to respond to welfare checks, and that during such calls there is a possibility they might encounter a violent situation. But here, the specific work-related event that caused France’s injury was the attack on France and his subsequent shooting and killing of the gunman. The record in this case shows that this type of encounter by a law enforcement officer is exceedingly rare.

The Arizona Republic's Joshua Bowling first reported on the case and the practice of denying compensation, and has much more on the situation here. 

 

"AZ Law" includes articles, commentaries and updates about opinions from the Arizona Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court, as well as trial and appellate courts, etc. AZ Law is founded by Phoenix attorney Paul Weich, and joins Arizona's Politics on the internet. 

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